ramblings about food, travel & life

Homemade Applesauce

Ok– so remember the first time you baked brownies not from a box? Or made cranberry sauce instead of slicing it up out of the can? (If you haven’t done those things, do. Now.) Well this recipe, for applesauce, is something that everyone who sees it (bf, roommates) get so confused about. Like, you made applesauce? Does it taste good? How does it work?

Yes. YES. It’s incredibly easy and tastes so much better than anything from a jar unless you’re spending a lot of money per jar. Also, it makes your house smell like fall and you get to do whatever you want with flavors. Here’s how:

Applesauce

First, peel and chop your apples. I like some skin in my applesauce, so I usually just peel half the apple, so it looks like I did a terrible job of peeling, then start cutting it up. Adjust whether you love or hate skin.

This is an apple. Use this fruit or you did it wrong.

After I’ve cut up the first apple, put it in a small saucepan with about an inch of water at the bottom and turn it on medium heat. I add the apples as I cut them up which makes room on the cutting board and then makes the ones on the bottom soften up faster.

Once the apples are all in the saucepan, add sweetener and spices. Sweetener is entirely optional, but will make the apples get juicier faster I think. Don’t use much and definitely not anything fake. I’ve used white sugar, brown sugar, and maple syrup so far. I think the flavor it leaves at the end is very subtle, and I’ve only used about a tablespoon of whatever I’m using per 5 apples.

Add spices. I add 3 shakes of cinnamon, 2 shakes of ginger and one shake of nutmeg, but some of you might be more scientific than I. I’m curious about what garam masala might taste like, or go crazy with cayenne? I don’t know.

Let the apples simmer for maybe a half hour, checking them every ten minutes. If the pan seems dry or the apples are browning, add up to an inch of water on the bottom. The apples should be softening and also absorbing the water. Check them with a fork. When they’re soft like a banana, you can shut off the burner and let the water steam away.

Trying to describe texture is hard. Best I could come up with is “soft like a banana” -_-

Mash the apples with a fork, or if you’re fancy something fancier like a potato masher. I wouldn’t use an immersion blender or anything like that because I like it to be relatively chunky. A major point of making it yourself is that it won’t have that super uniform texture.

Wow applesauce is not photogenic inside on my stove at sunset.

Chill and nibble for two days, then make more. Sorry I didn’t take more pictures. Also maybe use a pear if you want? That could be cool.